1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of harvesting berry harvesters. More particularly, the invention relates to a walk-behind harvester. More particularly yet, the invention relates to blueberry harvester for use in small-scale fields.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Blueberry harvesting has traditionally been done by handpickers or rakers who walk along a row and rake through the bushes. The work is tedious and back-breaking, particularly when harvesting wild blueberries, as the bushes are low to the ground and the picker works in a bent-over position. Handpickers, being paid by the box of berries picked, often leave berries hanging on the bush if they feel that the amount of berries is meager, and wander on to more lucrative areas, resulting in a loss to the landowner.
Many attempts have been made to construct a mechanical harvester to rake blueberry bushes in a manner that removes all or most of the berries, without damaging the bush. In addition to raking the berries from the bush, the harvester also has to transport the berries into a container. Other considerations for a mechanical harvester are that it have a motorized ground travel, be lightweight enough not create ruts in the ground, and be safe to operate.
The prior art discloses many walk-behind harvesting machines, designed primarily for harvesting cranberries. Because these harvesters must travel over sandy bog, good traction on sandy ground is a major concern. For that reason, they are heavy and have drive rollers that extend across the width of the harvester and that roll right over the vines. The berry-harvesting head of these harvesters has a system of rotating rakes and a pruning mechanism. The rotating rakes lift the cranberry vines from the ground and collect the berries onto the rakes, and simultaneously, the pruning mechanism prunes the vines. The machines are heavy and cumbersome and require extensive adaptation if they are to be used in blueberry fields. Also, due to the density of cranberries on the vines, the harvesting head rotates at a speed that is too slow for efficient blueberry raking. A typical conventional cranberry harvester that has, in the past, been used in blueberry fields is the Darlington harvester as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,780,905 (1957). The Darlington harvester picks only about 100-150 boxes of blueberries in a day, not much more than a handpicker. It is not possible to adapt the speed of the head to blueberry raking conditions because the mechanical action controlling the rakes through a rotation of the head is complex, and increasing the speed results in serious damage to the harvesting head. Furthermore, the diameter of harvesting head of the Darlington machine is too small for effective blueberry raking. For example, as a result of the small diameter, when the rakes come down into the blueberry bush, they are below the top of the bush and, therefore, they miss the blueberries growing in the upper portion of the bush.
An additional disadvantage of the Darlington harvester is that it does not have a safety shut-off that effectively shuts off the harvester when the operator relinquishes control. The harvester is only switched off when the off switch is actuated. This presents a safety hazard to the operator and to others working nearby in the field, and a source of property damage to the owner of the blueberry fields, because it will continue on in ground travel even after the operator has completely let go of it. For safety reasons, it is critical that, when the operator relinquish control of the machine, it shut down immediately.
What is needed, therefore, is a walk-behind berry harvester that is lightweight and easily maneuverable. What is further needed is such a harvester that effectively removes berries from a bush and transports the berries to a container, without damaging the bush or the berries. What is yet further needed is such a harvester that is operable at speeds that are determined by the harvesting conditions of the bushes in a section of a field. What is still yet further needed is such a harvester that is safe to operate.